Pressing power switch again after the CPU fan has powered down will cause the CPU fan to spin up for 5 seconds or so before it powers back off. Turning power supply off and back on will let me repeat the 30 second fan-on noted above.

Pressing power switch or reset switch while CPU fan is running yields no visible result.

Tried without RAM installed, and with different RAM installed - same result. Tried fooling with clear CMOS jumper, no change. Different power supply, everything unplugged, etc - no change. Don't have a different CPU to test with.

I tried to contact Asus via their online support thing, but they canceled my support ticket without bothering to reply to it (the single word "Canceled!", exclamation mark and all, was my only reply from them). The hardware supplier I got the parts from recommends you guys on this forum, so here I am. :)

I am fairly confident that we just got a bad motherboard, but I do have two niggling doubts in my head that I would like to put to bed before I put the board in the box and RMA it (and thus incur the various shipping charges and so-on).

1. CPU support - Asus's website says I need a specific version or newer of the BIOS to support this chip. I don't know how to determine my BIOS version when the screen stays blank - so. Question to you guys: If the BIOS wasn't new enough to support the CPU in question - would I get a blank-screen and the symptoms above, or would I get a "Unknown CPU" in the POST messages?

2. Memory support - apparently, according to the QVL on this board, Asus only supports a very small collection of DDR2800 chips. I was unaware of this when ordering, and the G.Skill memory in question is not on that list. I have also tried with some Patriot DDR2800 (admittedly also not on the QVL list, but all I've got to work with at the moment). Essentially the same question: if the G.Skill memory wasn't compatible with the board, would I get a black screen and the symptoms noted above, or would I get a board that booted but was unstable?

Make sure everything is seated correctly. Maybe take out the CPU and put it back in just to make sure. You can also trying clearing the CMOS (check the manual), should involve moving a jumper and/or taking out the battery on the motherboard.

You have onboard graphics. You should have some sort of video feed by default.
You may not have enough volts for the Ram sticks.
You could try to flash your BIOS to the latest version, one that supports your CPU. But with a motherboard in such an unstable state, I would not try that.
Usually, no beeps means dead board. It's RMA time.

Make sure everything is seated correctly. Maybe take out the CPU and put it back in just to make sure. You can also trying clearing the CMOS (check the manual), should involve moving a jumper and/or taking out the battery on the motherboard.

You have onboard graphics. You should have some sort of video feed by default.
You may not have enough volts for the Ram sticks.
You could try to flash your BIOS to the latest version, one that supports your CPU. But with a motherboard in such an unstable state, I would not try that.
Usually, no beeps means dead board. It's RMA time.

No way to flash BIOS with no video feed, is there? :)

And yeah, I'm thinking it's RMA time too. Just wanted to check with you guys who have some experience with the newer hardware first (I used to assemble computers for a living 'back in the day', but that was back when 66mhz was fast, and the 486DX was news. :)

And yeah, I'm thinking it's RMA time too. Just wanted to check with you guys who have some experience with the newer hardware first (I used to assemble computers for a living 'back in the day', but that was back when 66mhz was fast, and the 486DX was news. :)

Actually you can flash the BIOS without video feed. It's just a matter of knowing what to expect, even without seeing it. You know that once loaded, the DOS will show C:. Load A: and launch the flash utility.

I've done it before. But with your issue at hand - no beep - I would RMA without further questions.